


Footprints

by sevendemigxds



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth Chase - Freeform, Calypso - Freeform, Frank Zhang - Freeform, Hazel Levesque - Freeform, Jason Grace - Freeform, Nico di Angelo - Freeform, Will Solace - Freeform, leo valdez - Freeform, percy jackson - Freeform, piper mclean - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 17:57:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4796894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevendemigxds/pseuds/sevendemigxds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Valdez risks everything to keep a promise, including his life. He saves Calypso from her prison and he feels like he's on top of the world. But when he finds himself back in New York, he comes back to something he would've never expected. Turns out a promise can cost more than just a life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Footprints

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so basically I've wanted to be a writer for a very long time, but I've always been afraid of letting people read what I've written, so I'm posting this one shot to hopefully help me get over that! A friend gave me this idea, (If you ever happen to come across this I'm sure you'll know who you are so hi) & I hope this doesn't suck too much. Also, if I did anything wrong when posting this its my bad since I've never used this website before.
> 
> Please please please give me feedback on this as it would be much appreciated!
> 
> Credit to Rick Riordan for the characters & setting & all that.
> 
> P.S. I hate the title so if anyone has a better idea that'd be great.

Leo knew that time was different in Ogygia, he just never knew how different.

Not that it mattered, because above all Calypso was a priority. She was more important to him than anything, even the tiny voice nagging in the back of his head telling him his friends must be worried. He always shook it off. He'd always been the 7th wheel right? They couldn't possibly miss him enough to matter. Not Percy, not Annabeth, not even Piper or Jason. He let the thoughts slip back into his head & mentally locked them away, replacing them with Calypso. Her eyes, her hair, her voice, everything. She was his world now, and he was hers. He had to stick with that.

As the two flew away from Ogygia for the last time, Calypso looked back, staring at the hazy outline of her ghost island they'd just left behind. Leo looked at her, trying to read her facial expression. She was sad to leave... Had he made a mistake? But she looked at him and smiled, shaking her head. She must've known what he had been thinking, because her smile reassured him more than any words ever could. Leo smiled in return. 

He wasn't sure where Festus would end up when they got away from the island. Maybe they'd end up in Calypso's old city, or Rome, or for all Leo's luck they'd end up in Antarctica. No place for someone hot (duh!) like him. But as the city racing by below the metal dragon came into view, Leo had to take a deep breath.

New York.

He wasn't sure he wanted to see his friends just yet, he was expecting to have been with Calypso for longer. He wanted to get to know her, or if anything he at least wanted to warn her about seeing Percy again. But as the Empire State Building came more into focus he knew it was inevitable. He'd have to see them. He felt Calypso rest her hand on top of his, as if knowing something was wrong.

"You'll get through this, okay? If they could stand you before you died they should be able to now." 

He wasn't sure how she'd known, but he was grateful. He yelled to Festus, telling him to take them to Half-Blood Hill. To camp.

As they descended over the strawberry fields, he sucked in a breath. All his senses told him what he already knew, this was home. He could smell the strawberries baking in the sun, see the lake stretched out in front of him, & best of all, he could hear the people. All his friends were right below him, & suddenly he was never more grateful to be home. He took Calypso's hand and squeezed, and he could feel her beaming at him. She knew he was happy to be home, & she was happy too. 

As the the dragon's feet hit the ground with a thud, Leo felt his heart skip a beat. He had never been this nervous in his life, and he didn't know how to react. After all, it's not every day that a person comes back from the dead. 

He cursed & quickly extinguished the flame that had appeared on his sleeve out of nerves. He had nothing to worry about. These were his friends. His family. He should be excited, if anything. He took Calypso's hand & helped her off Festus' back. As soon as her feet hit the grass he dragged her away, anxious to get to his friends. He went first to the big house to look for Chiron, because of course he would know where everyone was. 

As the pair entered the house, Leo was overcome with a feeling of emptiness. It looked as if no one had been in the house for months. This made no sense to him, because where would Chiron have been staying? And what happened to Mr. D? It didn't add up, but denial came quick as a blink, telling him that they must have just moved someplace else in the camp. He took one last scan around & tugged on Calypso's hand, pulling her out into the sunlight. 

He decided to next try the Zeus cabin, because it only made sense to see his best friend first. They made their way across the now maze-like formation of cabins to the cabin that could only be fit for the King of the gods. He told Calypso to wait, then went to the door & knocked. When no one answered, he sighed and turned back around. He had barely glimpsed in the opposite direction when he saw a familiar shade of black streak by. He ignored Calypso's questions as he sped past her towards the dark haired head he'd spotted a ways away, walking towards the Poseidon cabin. He reached the boy & clapped him on the back while gasping for breath. 

"Percy thank gods I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?"

The boy turned and looked at Leo, and suddenly Leo's heart was in his stomach.

"Percy? What kind of sick joke is that?" 

Leo's world was spinning, turning, blinding him and making him forget how to breath. 

Sick joke? 

"What—what do you mean? Percy, I—"

"I'm not Percy! Whoever you are, stay the hell away from me."

The boy growled, looking down at Leo with gray eyes that could melt steel.

Suddenly Leo felt like vomiting. There was no way, no way in Tartarus that this could really be happening to him. He felt himself running, not really sure where he was going, when he ran head on into a boy with blonde hair.

No way.

Leo pushed the kid away, but not far enough away. The boy smiled that stupid, stupid smile Leo had seen a million times. 

"Hi! You new? I've never seen you before."

"J-Jason?"

The boy furrowed his eyebrows, but he didn't look angry.

"Um, did you know my dad or something?"

Leo was two seconds from passing out.

"Um your- your dad.... What's your name?"

The boy smiled that stupid perfect superman smile that could've gotten any girl in the world. It made Leo want to punch a hole in a wall. Or maybe just smash his head into a wall. Maybe that would make this go away.

"I'm Leo, Leo Grace. What's your name?"

Leo blacked out for at least ten seconds.

Leo Grace.

No. Way.

Any thought of Calypso was suddenly out of his head & so far away she might as well have been back in Ogygia. 

"Um.. Leo. Crazy right, but uh, if you don't mind me asking, where are your parents at this very moment?"

The other Leo, the Jason/Piper Leo from some crazy parallel universe, grimaced. Once again, Leo's head was spinning at a million miles per hour. 

No. Freaking. Way.

"Uh well, my parents are dead. They went on some crazy quest about ten years ago with a bunch of their friends and got in some freak accident. No one made it out."

"Um, do you remember the friends' names? Sorry this is just really important."

"Yeah well my mom & dad obviously, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Frank Zhang & I think Hazel something? I'm not sure exactly."

Suddenly Leo wasn't there anymore. The camp wasn't there. The world wasn't there. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think. His world had been dropped out from beneath him and he didn't have time to react.  


Every single one of them. 

Dead. 

And they had died thinking that he had been dead the whole time. 

He suddenly feel like he was going to vomit and he wasn't sure if it was real or if it was his hopes & his dreams & his plans for the future & everything in between. Images of his friends & memories were flying around his brain & no matter how much he tried to reach for them they all slipped away. 

Dead. 

Dead Dead Dead Dead.

The Leo/Jason/Piper boy suddenly looked tall & menacing compared to real Leo. It took him a few seconds to realize that he had in fact not grown, Leo had just fallen down to his knees.  
He put his face in his hands & didn't move for a while, & he didn't realize he was full out sobbing until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, why are you crying? I know it's sad but it was so long ago, I was a baby. It's not worth getting upset over, okay?"

Leo wanted to pull his hair out. This other kid sounded so much like Jason the sound of his voice made Leo's heart hurt. He couldn't take it.

"Look kid, I can't deal with this right now. Im going to go, okay? Okay."

Leo felt his legs moving, his arms moving, the whole world was moving & he wouldn't be surprised if it never stopped. The other Leo kid was  
calling for him, but Leo was as distant as the stars and the planets. He was out in space & no one could bring him back.

His eyes weren't adjusting to the light or how fast he was moving. Frankly he wasn't even sure he was moving anymore. Maybe he was floating away into nothing, or maybe he was sitting under some dead tree in the underworld.

At least there he'd be with his friends.

Leo shuddered & suddenly felt like he was being pulled out of a dream, and then he knew where he was. He stopped moving & fell down into the sand. 

Down. 

Down further.

Down until he was certain every grain of sand was seeping into his body.

Down until he was as close to them as possible.

His breathing was coming out in short choppy breaths, and the tears were falling like the rain. 

Leo had brought himself to the beach.

That stupid beach. That stupid, stupid beach that months ago Leo, Jason, & Piper all set foot on after crashing into the lake. Their first steps at Camp Half-Blood.

Leo swore that if he looked closely enough, their footprints were still there. Maybe they were next to him, and none of this had been real. Maybe it was still that day they first came, and Leo was waterlogged and dreaming.

But as the sun began to set Leo began to lose hope.

The only footprints there were his own.


End file.
